Hello lovely blog visitors. Welcome! I am sharing the newest edition to Dimples out door play area today. The awesome and totally messy mud kitchen. The best recipe for engaging children in messy, active, outdoor learning is with mud. The complete Mud station Here is the DIY mud kitchen that we built for Dimples in a few hours using recycled materials. It is much better than any store bought plastic kids kitchen and it is a outdoor hardy and durable one that is able to get messy and muddy time after time.  Marvellous Mud The mud kitchen is built from off cuts of wood that I painted with chalk board paint, they're butted in to a old sink that came from a wrecked caravan, you could grab one from the wreckers or the buy back at the tip. That's it really! They're screwed together onto the side of Dimples tree house: click here to check out the tree house. Then we added a plastic tub as another sink and an old plastic shelf unit as a storage/pretend stove. We added some nails at the top, out of the way in order to hang the utensils and pots from and then it was ready for action. Helping to build the mud kitchen. We hadn't even finished building it before dimples decided he would start mixing his mud together. Dimples enjoyed his mud kitchen for the rest of the afternoon. He has some old pots hanging up, some measuring cups, sifts, ladles, spoons and scoops, a tray full of small bowls, plates and tongs, some old muffin trays and of course a water can. Happily Making & creating - Role Playing a Host & Serving it up for me - Pretending to eat imaginary desert Nearby I have up cycled an old sand pit as a mud pit. How awesome, an endless supply of mud on hand for hours and hours of messy outdoor play. If you are wondering about the germs, bugs or spiders that may house themselves in the mud I have been told that a majority aren't necessarily attracted to mud. If you do a little research, you will see that mud actually houses good bacteria and the benefits outweigh the mess of it by far. Here is a previous post on why Mud is good for you. Making Master Peices If you're still worried, wash your dirt first and run a pick or spade through it to break it all up, dose it in vinegar to rid it of germs, mix in some sand and add clean top soil from the garden centre. Also apparently creepy crawlies hate cinnamon, so mix through some of this. Be careful not to use any chemicals because they will be released into your child's skin when handling and watering the dirt. To maintain a clean mud station just remember to check it regularly, tose it around and stir it up regularly, add vinegar or cinnamon once in a while and remove natures debri. Mud Muffins Freshly made Playing in the Mud as a child is often a fond memory held by every one whether you were allowed to freely or just did after a big down fall of rain. Playing in the Mud makes kids happy. I really am starting to see this now since Dimples has his mud kitchen. He can peacefully and independently play in his mud kitchen chatting away to himself for hours. I reckon if I left him, he would entertain himself there all day. The process of Mud making can be messy, but the entire mud kitchen can be easily hosed down. Happy, content, peaceful, outside in the fresh air, actively exploring nature and playing independently with a natural sensory resource is one of the best forms of play in my eyes. It is so open ended and evokes a sense of freedom. Playing outside in the dirt or the mud encompasses all the senses while the child is learning and is a fulfilling hands on activity that not only has been said to be good for you but is connecting the child's spirit, soul, imagination and physical self to the outdoors. Absolute bliss. For more outdoor play ideas you may like Outdoor Balance Stumps Our Magical Gnome Garden Our Outdoor Real Life Family Tree Painting An Outdoor Spider Cave Outdoor Obsticle Course Fun Happy Outdoor Adventures.